I always wondered how the "per hour" thing works, at least in the indie scene. How do I even know how many hours they spent on their work? ...Maybe you mean as in physically going to a place, which is not possible in my case. The collab would be entirely over the internet.
I said "per week" as in maybe use a Scrum methodology with sprints of 1 week.
I see. If you can't find someone to agree to work that way (Scrum), and don't want to pay by the hour (which has its positives and negatives), you might also be able to negotiate based on each overall asset.
Even asset prices can differ, though. While a tree sprite might cost $10 or less, a fully animated 2D main character could reach $30-$50+. Factor in a bit more than that if we're talking 3D, especially if the animations that are needed are complex.
Hmmmm, I see. That might be a good alternative, because the per-hour model presents me with a little problem right now...
Assuming that I hired one $15 startup and the work schedule would be the normal 8 hours a day, that'd make: 15 x 8 = $120 a day.
Assuming a normal 5 days a week (with saturday and sunday to rest): 120 x 5 = $600 a week.
A month has about 4 weeks: 600 x 4 = $2400 per month.
Now, assuming a small team that includes 1 animator, 1 artist for things like backgrounds, tilesets and GUI, and 1 composer: 2400 x 3 = $7200 a month for that team.
I'd need over 20 times my current subscriber count on my Patreon to even afford that! So I either pay per asset or look for an alternative way of gathering up the money, such as working for others first (assuming these others even have any money to pay me with).